Obama proposes tapping nation's oil reserves to help drive down gasoline prices

[RichardCranium]

By TOM RAUM, Associated Press Writer

CHICAGO (Associated Press) -- Barack Obama is proposing tapping the nation's strategic oil reserves to help drive down gasoline prices, his campaign said Monday.

Obama supports releasing light oil from the emergency oil stockpile now and replacing it later with heavier crude more suited to the country's long-term needs, according to a campaign fact sheet. Light crude oil is easier to refine into gasoline than heavier oil.

Also on Monday, the Obama campaign unveiled a television ad that criticizes Republican John McCain's energy policies.

"After one president in the pocket of big oil we can't afford another," says the ad, referring to President Bush's previous work in the oil industry.

Obama is emphasizing energy and the economy in campaign stops this week in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana, beginning with a speech Monday in Lansing, Mich. Gas prices over $4 a gallon have become a top issue in the presidential contest.

In the past, Obama has not advocated tapping the oil reserve, but campaign spokeswoman Heather Zichal said he has reconsidered. "He recognizes that Americans are suffering," she said.

The nation's strategic petroleum reserve consists of about 700 million barrels in salt caverns in Texas and Louisiana. It was last tapped shortly after Hurricane Katrina. Otherwise, President Bush has refused to use the reserves, saying they need to be left intact as an emergency stockpile. However, in the face of strong congressional pressure, Bush in June stopped filling the reserve until oil prices decline.

The new Obama ad trumpets his proposal to revive a windfall profits tax on energy companies and asserts that McCain favors tax breaks for the oil industry.

"A windfall profits tax on big oil to give families a thousand-dollar rebate," an announcer in the ad says.

Obama has pushed for such a tax to fund $1,000 emergency rebate checks for consumers besieged by high energy costs.

Congress enacted a windfall profits tax in 1980, during an earlier era of high oil prices, but repealed it in 1988 amid concerns the tax was discouraging domestic oil development. Last year, the House approved $18 billion in new taxes on the largest oil companies, but they were blocked by Republicans in the Senate.

The new ad opens with a driver pumping gas. The announcer says, "Every time you fill your tank, the oil companies fill their pockets."

Republicans were quick to pounce.

"Barack Obama's latest attack ads shows his celebrity is matched only by his hypocrisy," said McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds. "After all it was Senator Obama, not John McCain, who voted for the Bush-Cheney energy bill that was a sweetheart deal for oil companies. Also not mentioned is the $400,000 from big oil contributors that Barack Obama has already pocketed in this election."

Alex Conant, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee, said Michigan Republicans planned to go to Obama's Lansing event to pass out tire gauges engraved with "Obama's Energy Plan." That pokes fun at the part of Obama's energy plan calling for people to inflate their tires to the highest correct pressure to help conserve fuel.

Obama has said recently that he would reluctantly consider accepting some new offshore oil drilling. Obama previously opposed any offshore drilling.

Lately, however, he has cited "very constructive" talks between Senate Republicans and Democrats on this issue. He praised a plan unveiled by a group of Republican and Democratic senators to permit drilling while supporting an effort to convert most vehicles to alternative fuels in 20 years.

McCain's campaign accused the Democrat of flip-flopping. However, the Arizona Democrat recently reversed his own former opposition to drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf.

Both candidates have energy proposals to reduce U.S. dependence on oil. Obama's was first, and its centerpiece is a 10-year, $150 billion spending plan focusing on clean coal technology, further development of plug-in hybrid cars, commercialization of wind and solar power and other measures.

McCain's, which is called the Lexington Project, includes building 45 new nuclear power plants; offering a $300 million prize for major advancement of low-cost, plug-in hybrid or electric car technology; and "encouraging the market" in wind, hydroelectric and solar power. Both he and Obama would cut use of fossil fuels to combat climate change.


Link here. (http://batonrouge.cox.net/cci/newsnational/national?_mode=view&_state=maximized&view=article&id=D92BGMSG3&_action=validatearticle)

[Drew]

Windfall profits? Did the oil companies win the lottery? People can be so stupid it makes me want to punch someone in the face.

[Drew]

McCain's campaign accused the Democrat of flip-flopping. However, the Arizona Democrat recently reversed his own former opposition to drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf.



I was also unaware McCain had switched parties. Proof-reading FTW.

[Tea & Strumpets]

Windfall profits? Did the oil companies win the lottery? People can be so stupid it makes me want to punch someone in the face.

People are paying more for gas, and the oil companies are profiting from it. For many people (ie. imbeciles), the rest of the equation doesn't matter.


"A windfall profits tax on big oil to give families a thousand-dollar rebate," an announcer in the ad says.

Obama has pushed for such a tax to fund $1,000 emergency rebate checks for consumers besieged by high energy costs.

Vote for me, I'll tax the evil oil companies and give you a thousand dollars! Sheesh, talk about pandering to the shithead vote.

[Parkbandit]

I was also unaware McCain had switched parties. Proof-reading FTW.

That's probably the only factually accurate item in the entire article.

[crb]

Ya, that $1000 bribe is just that, a bribe.

It cracks me up that Exxon Mobile makes 12 billion and people wig out, but if it was broken up into 6 equal companies that made 2 billion each, it wouldn't be a big deal.

In anycase, I think it is important to keep oil in the reserve, I could see going down to maybe 85 or 90% full, but no further. It is strategic duh.

Right now Obama is talking down the road from me about how bad it is to send 700 billion a year overseas for oil... well drill here stupid.

[Parkbandit]

People are paying more for gas, and the oil companies are profiting from it. For many people (ie. imbeciles), the rest of the equation doesn't matter.



Vote for me, I'll tax the evil oil companies and give you a thousand dollars! Sheesh, talk about pandering to the shithead vote.


I would hope that the oil companies will take him to court on this bullshit proposition. My business probably more than twice the profits of the evil BIG OIL percentage wise... am I fucking next?

The "RICH R EVIL" class warfare tactic is page one of the Marxist Handbook. Replace "poor" with "Proletariat" and "Rich" with "Bourgeois"... and BINGO, it's pretty much word for word.

[crb]

Now Obama is saying we need to worry about long term energy independence, but then in the next sentence says drilling is only a long term solution and not worth considering.

Then he says that John McCain's only plan is to drill (which is a lie).

Then he says that John McCain admits the main benefit, short term, of drilling is psychological (on speculators)... deriding him for that. When the main democratic position is that speculators are causing it. Twit.

Then he mentions again his "windfall" profits tax. Assuming there is 100 million families in the country, and you give them each 1 grand as he says, you get 100 billion.

Exxon Mobile made 12 billion... a little shy there Obambi.

Now he's taking credit for that gang of 10 compromise in the house. What a douche.

[Fallen]

Didn't Obama recently wrap up a trip to Florida, and changed his position to support limited off-shore drilling?

[crb]

Oh... he's a masterful politician that man. He is in "favor of an off shore drilling compromise" but he does not think it will work.

Like how he did in Iraq... it was probably the most hilarious thing I've ever seen him do..

Katie Couric: Has the surge worked?

Obama: I think the additional troops and have fought well and bravely and helped bring down violence.

Couric: So the surge worked?

Obama: I'm not saying that, I'm saying the troops fought bravely and helped bring down violence."

Couric: You sir, are a douche.

[Daniel]

you realize the surge was a two phased operation whose ultimate success has yet to be seen right?

[Warriorbird]

Gosh. Scary... the thought of somebody who could actually do bipartisan things. We haven't seen that in a while.

[RichardCranium]

Updated. (http://batonrouge.cox.net/cci/newsnational/national?_mode=view&_state=maximized&view=article&id=D92BJJSO1&_action=validatearticle)

By TOM RAUM, Associated Press Writer

LANSING, Mich. (Associated Press) -- In a reversal, Barack Obama proposed Monday that the government sell 70 million barrels of oil from its strategic petroleum stockpile to help reduce gasoline prices.

The Democratic presidential candidate said in a major energy speech that in the short-run the move could help drive down gasoline prices that now top $4 a gallon.

Previously, Obama opposed tapping into the reserve, but campaign spokeswoman Heather Zichal said he reconsidered because "Americans are suffering."

Past releases from the reserve have "lowered gas prices within two weeks," Obama said.

The Illinois Democrat said U.S. politicians have failed for three decades to deal with the energy crisis and his GOP rival John McCain has "been part of that failure."

Speaking to reporters in Pennsylvania, McCain again advocated more oil drilling off the U.S. coast. "Anybody who says that we can achieve energy independence without using and increasing these existing energy resources either doesn't have the experience to understand the challenge that we face or isn't giving the American people some straight talk."

Obama is emphasizing energy and the economy in campaign stops this week in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana. Gas prices have become a top issue in the presidential contest, and polls show McCain has used the issue to gain ground on Obama.

Obama called tapping the petroleum reserve a short-term response to a long-term problem.

"Breaking our oil addiction is one of the greatest challenges our generation will ever face. It will take nothing less than a complete transformation of our economy," he said. "This transformation will be costly, and given the fiscal disaster we will inherit from the last administration, it will likely require us to defer some other priorities."

Obama also reiterated his statement Friday that he could support limited new offshore drilling if it were needed to enact a compromise energy policy to foster fuel-efficient autos and alternative energy sources.

Such a compromise was proposed Friday by 10 moderate to conservative senators from both parties. It would allow some drilling off Southern states.

"Like all compromises, this one has its drawbacks. It includes a limited amount of new offshore drilling, and while I still don't believe that's a particularly meaningful short-term or long-term solution, I am willing to consider it if it's necessary to actually pass a comprehensive plan," Obama said. "I am not interested in making the perfect the enemy of the good particularly since there is so much good in this compromise that would actually reduce our dependence on foreign oil."

The Illinois senator said of McCain, "Like George Bush and Dick Cheney before him, he sees more drilling as the answer to all of our energy problems, and like them, he's found a receptive audience in the very same oil companies that have blocked our progress for so long. In fact, he raised more than $1 million from big oil just last month."

Also on Monday, the Obama campaign unveiled a television ad that criticizes McCain's energy policies.

"After one president in the pocket of big oil we can't afford another," says the ad, referring to President Bush's previous work in the oil industry.

The nation's strategic petroleum reserve contains 707.2 million barrels in salt caverns in Texas and Louisiana. It was last tapped shortly after Hurricane Katrina. Otherwise, President Bush has refused to use the reserves, saying they need to be kept for emergencies. However, under congressional pressure, Bush stopped filling the reserve in June until prices decline.

Obama's call for using the government reserve mirrors a proposal that pushed by congressional Democrats, but opposed by Republicans and the White House.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., for weeks has called for Bush to withdraw a "small amount" of oil from the government reserve to try to force down prices.

Both candidates have energy proposals to reduce U.S. dependence on oil. Obama's was first, and its centerpiece is a 10-year, $150 billion spending plan focusing on clean coal technology, further development of plug-in hybrid cars, commercialization of wind and solar power and other measures.

McCain's plan includes building 45 new nuclear power plants; offering a $300 million prize for major advancement of low-cost, plug-in hybrid or electric car technology; and "encouraging the market" in wind, hydroelectric and solar power. McCain's short-term proposal is for a summer-long holiday from the federal gasoline tax.

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is capable of releasing about 4 million barrels a day. It's unclear what impact such release might have on costs of gasoline at the pump. But a decision by the United States to use its emergency reserve could put downward pressure on oil markets at least for a time, energy experts say.

In 2000 in a move similar to that proposed by Obama, President Clinton released 30 million barrels because of concern over rising prices and supply worries in advance of that year's winter heating season. That move was criticized by Republicans as an attempt to help then Vice President Al Gore's presidential bid.

The new Obama ad also pushes his proposal to revive a windfall profits tax on energy companies and asserts that McCain favors tax breaks for the oil industry.

"A windfall profits tax on big oil to give families a thousand-dollar rebate," an announcer in the ad says.

Obama would use the tax to fund $1,000 emergency rebate checks for consumers besieged by high energy costs.

Congress enacted a windfall profits tax in 1980, during an earlier era of high oil prices, but repealed it in 1988 amid concern it discouraged domestic oil development. Last year, the House approved $18 billion in new taxes on the largest oil companies, but Senate Republicans blocked them.

Responding to the new ad, McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds. "It was Sen. Obama, not John McCain, who voted for the Bush-Cheney energy bill that was a sweetheart deal for oil companies. Also not mentioned is the $400,000 from big oil contributors that Barack Obama has already pocketed in this election."

McCain's campaign accused the Democrat of flip-flopping on offshore drilling, but the Arizona Republican himself had opposed such drilling until June.

[Mabus]

Gosh. Scary... the thought of somebody who could actually do bipartisan things. We haven't seen that in a while.
You mean like McCain-Kennedy, McCain-Feingold, and the many other bills that Senator John McCain has worked with those across the aisle to support and/or pass?

Many republicans say John McCain is "the best democrat running" because of his support for compromising to actually get solutions passed.

[Parkbandit]

you realize the surge was a two phased operation whose ultimate success has yet to be seen right?

So if I'm understanding you correctly.. all the politicians that said the surge isn't going to work, didn't work and won't work... are all fucking retards?

[Parkbandit]

You mean like McCain-Kennedy, McCain-Feingold, and the many other bills that Senator John McCain has worked with those across the aisle to support and/or pass?

Many republicans say John McCain is "the best democrat running" because of his support for compromising to actually get solutions passed.

Exactly. McCain is known for pork barrel spending and spending most of his time on the 'other' side of the isle.

To paint Obama as this disciple of Bipartisanship is a bit premature.. since he's barely even been in the Senate, let alone done anything.

[Warriorbird]

Right, right. There's another person who spent 8 years in the Illinois State Senate and 3 years in the US Congress before he became President.

Everybody who's running for anything skips out on their jobs. It is standard. McCain tried to paint Obama as terrible for skipping a vote that he himself had skipped. In some ways it can be a tactic as well... not voting against somebody's efforts.

I think this is excellent political gamesmanship. It shows that Obama can do what McCain says he does.

I mean... man. There's been other Presidents who've made all sorts of bargains and have been accused of lacking experience... ones that people really liked.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfKXVDbvkoQ

[Mabus]

Right, right. There's another person who spent 8 years in the Illinois State Senate and 3 years in the US Congress before he became President.

Obama has only been in the Senate since January 2007 (elected 2006). How that translates to "3 years in the US Congress" to you is beyond me, unless you meant someone else.

[Warriorbird]

Yah think?

[Keller]

[Obama has] barely even been in the Senate, let alone done anything.

But from the barely anything he has done, he's the most flaming EXREME communist in the Senate.

[crb]

Exactly. McCain is known for pork barrel spending and spending most of his time on the 'other' side of the isle.

To paint Obama as this disciple of Bipartisanship is a bit premature.. since he's barely even been in the Senate, let alone done anything.
Ummm... no... atleast on pork barrel spending.

McCain has long been the most vocal opponent of pork barrel spending and is one of few lawmarkers to insert 0 earmarks into bills. 2007, McCain took $0. Obama took just under $100 million, Clinton just over 300 million as I recall.

[Mabus]

Yah think?
"He was elected to the Senate in November 2004 with 70% of the vote."

I was wrong, you were correct. For some reason I thought he was elected in 2006.

My apologies.

[Parkbandit]

Ummm... no... atleast on pork barrel spending.

McCain has long been the most vocal opponent of pork barrel spending and is one of few lawmarkers to insert 0 earmarks into bills. 2007, McCain took $0. Obama took just under $100 million, Clinton just over 300 million as I recall.

Sorry.. I meant against pork barrel spending.

[Keller]

I was wrong

You know the saying, "Once a liar, Mabus has always been a LIAR"

:love:

[Daniel]

So if I'm understanding you correctly.. all the politicians that said the surge isn't going to work, didn't work and won't work... are all fucking retards?

That's not quite what I was saying. Try again.

[Stanley Burrell]

Oh man. That commie bastard is talking to other members the House. Shame.

[Gan]

I think short term responses to long term problems are a good thing.

Like lifting the ban on offshore drilling/exploration and shale-oil production. All short term respones, some with long term implications, for an even longer term problem.

[Mabus]

You know the saying, "Once a liar, Mabus has always been a LIAR"

:love:
Eh?

I posted something that I had thought was correct, then I checked the record. When I found out I was wrong I then posted that the previous poster was correct and apologized.

I didn't delete my post or edit it. I didn't "lie" and state I never said it. I made a mistake and admitted it. Rare for most posters in this forum, but when I make a mistake I admit it.

So point to the "lie" or eat shit, asshole.

[Keller]

Eh?

I posted something that I had thought was correct, then I checked the record. When I found out I was wrong I then posted that the previous poster was correct and apologized.

I didn't delete my post or edit it. I didn't "lie" and state I never said it. I made a mistake and admitted it. Rare for most posters in this forum, but when I make a mistake I admit it.

So point to the "lie" or eat shit, asshole.

Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery -- but you don't seem too thrilled.

[ClydeR]

I think short term responses to long term problems are a good thing.

Like lifting the ban on offshore drilling/exploration and shale-oil production. All short term respones, some with long term implications, for an even longer term problem.

I don't think anybody's going to bite.